Old and Neglected

ozybstd on May 5, 2009

Old grave as years go by, less and less people visit or remember.
It falls into neglect without any maintenance.

Grass grows tall
No-one cares anymore
Relatives all dead
Or moved away
45 years ago
He was laid to rest

It was neat then
Grass cut and trimmed
Flowers in the vase
Tears flowed each birthday
Less every year
Now forgotten

A grave a monument
For a gentle man
Joined after 16 years
By a special lady
Wife of 40 years
Reunited for eternity

Born to a civic leader
As a new century dawned
His middle class life
Cut short at 64
Grateful town bids farewell
To a favoured son

The town’s biggest funeral
Stopped three times
From church to cemetery
Hearse on it’s last legs
Finished the sad journey
Towed by another

As pipers tunefully
Said their farewells
He was interred
Next to his father
A town pioneer
Who lived to be 82

His sun has set
Friends all gone
Grand kids the adults
This grave forgotten
Only distant memories
Not that important

Surrounding gravestones
Neglected and aging
Tarnished and broken
Some stones in pieces
Grass grows wild
Wasn’t always like this

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Comments (1)

ladybaby on May 5, 2009
This is why I don’t want to waste space to get buried when I die. I have requested to be cremated, however I have written my own obituary in advance, so that it will give details I want left behind of my life. I have told my family to by pass the funeral and burial and toss my ashes to the wind. But make sure that my obituary is put in the local newspaper, so if any time in the future anyone is interested in looking up their family members, I will be able to provide them something. I liked your poem. It was sad but true.

Hi there!